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This is sort of random, but a couple of years ago I ended up (unplanned) reading quite a bit of sea literature.  I've often thought of that grouping of books and how much I enjoyed them.  I suppose such a list could be found on Amazon, but I'm just giving it a plug here because I'm in no way a sea-faring person.  I'm a land-locked land-lubber, in fact.  But I found these books, especially taken together, tremendously interesting reading.  Maybe a summer reading program for by the pool? :)

 

Two Years Before the Mast

 

Captains Courageous

 

Treasure Island

 

Endurance

 

Moby Dick

 

Adrift

 

Kidnapped

 

Robinson Crusoe

 

The Long Ships  

 

I never read any any Horatio Hornblower, but I'd like to get to it.  Maybe others have favorites to add (for some reason I keep thinking of Nan)?  I wouldn't mind sucking down a few more.

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I found that O'Brian was much more interesting to me as an older adult than when I was younger. I appreciated the writing but couldn't stick with the book.

As an older reader I was more able to appreciate the themes of disappointment, frustration and betrayal.

Hornblower was much more open to me when I was younger. It still has infidelity in later books but it's less of a central theme or plot device.


Carry On Mr Bowditch is also good.
The Perfect Storm

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Not much on this list after WW2.

So

The Flight of the Intruder
David Poyer (I'm partial to The Gulf because the first scene involves the class of ship I had as my first ship, but I think The Med was the first one he wrote in the series)
The Hunt for Red October

Nonfiction
Halsey's Storm
Sailors to the End (everytime I have this in my hands I end up reading a fair chunk before I can set it down)

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Tim Severin recreated historical voyages and wrote engaging books about them.  Sea voyages included the routes of Odysseus, Jason, Brendan and Sinbad.  I think they're pretty much all out of print--we've ordered them through our library system.

 

It's probably the Brendan Voyage, I'm thinking of.

http://www.amazon.com/Brendan-Voyage-Modern-Library-Exploration/dp/0375755241/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1AKC7RXASTE82H6GJYTH

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